Congratulations to Award Winning Capstone Project

Seniors Celeste Bauer, John Meyer and Xi Ru take first prize for their Environmental Engineering Capstone Project

The Data & GIS Collab would like to congratulate Environmental Engineering Seniors John Myers, Xi Ru, and Celeste Bauer on their award winning capstone project. The project entitled “Ohio River Harmful Algal Blooms: Indicators and Real Time Monitoring” resulted in the design a geographic web application that tracks and updates river conditions from sensors set at multiple points along the Ohio River.  Collab Students Shiyu Gong and Jenny Latessa worked with Ms. Ru as she investigated various web mapping tools for her team to use.  This is one of several web mapping projects the Collab has consulted on recently and shows growing interest and applications for this type of mapping.  It is a great pleasure for the lab to be involved and to gain knowledge about new tools and  techniques.  We congratulate John, Xi and Celeste on their hard work and great ideas and wish them much success in their future endeavors.

Dean’s Corner: A Busy April Overview

It’s April at the University of Cincinnati, the end of another eventful academic year. This April was especially busy for UC Libraries, beginning with our 16th annual International Edible Books Festival event on April 3rd. Later in the month, the library hosted my Dean’s Advisory Council, and the board of downtown Cincinnati’s Lloyd Library. We honored Marian A. Spencer, this year’s recipient of the Taft Medal of Notable Achievement at UC’s Distinguished Alumni Celebration, and held our first German-Americana lecture. We celebrated the kickoff of UC’s bicentennial, participated in UC’s Research + Innovation Week and brought music to the Gorno Library.

This is just a short list, in no way comprehensive. It says nothing of UC Libraries’ hardworking faculty, staff and student workers, spread out over 10 campus locations.

From the upper left hand corner: Celebrating Edible Books; handing out snacks and giveaways at UC’s Bearcat Block Party; dining with members of my Dean’s Advisory Council Continue reading

UC Libraries and IT@UC Announce Next Session of the Data and Computational Science Series

DSC2 series

The University of Cincinnati Libraries and IT@UC Research & Development announce the next in the Data & Computational Science Series (DCS2) 2018, a speaker series supported by a Universal Provider award from UC’s Office of the Provost for faculty development.

DCS2 brings to the University of Cincinnati research community a variety of innovative workshops and distinguished speakers on advanced research data topics including high performance computing, cloud computing, data visualization, research story-mapping, spatial analysis, artificial intelligence and machine learning.  The workshops are free and open to all, but registration is required. Continue reading

Farewell and Hello – New Student Helper in the Data & GIS Collab

With the end of the semester comes change.  And this is also true for the Data & GIS Collab.  Our wonderful student Shiyu Gong will end her time with us as finals end this week.  We thank her for all the hard work and wish her the best as she pursues the goals of her next phase of education.  You will do amazing work!

Shiyu Gong

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also welcome a new student to the lab.  Zhiyuan Yao will join us starting April 30th.  She is a Geography & GIS graduate student and has much GIS expertise.  She has been a TA for both introduction and intermediate GIS courses and is interested in transportation research.  She is eager to help you with your spatial analysis.  Come visit her in the Collab.  Hours for the lab are posted at  https://guides.libraries.uc.edu/GISandData/Collab

Zhiyuan Yao, Jenny Latessa and Shiyu Gong of the Data & GIS Collab

Richard Johansen Joins UC Libraries as Data Visualization Specialist

richard in front of visualization wall

Richard poses in front of the Visualization Wall.

On Monday, April 23,  Richard Johansen started work in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library as Data Visualization Specialist.

Richard is already a fellow UC Bearcat, previously serving as a Research Assistant in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Geography and GIS. He has worked on a host of interdisciplinary projects, and has a wealth of experience in spatial and data analyses using a variety of analytical and visualization software. Richard is currently a PhD candidate in UC’s Geography and GIS Department, and holds a BS in geosciences and a MA in geography and planning. Outside of work, he is an avid traveler, bizarre food lover and self-described space nerd.

As the Data Visualization Specialist, Richard joins the Science and Engineering Libraries unit and the Researcher Services team.  He will develop a distinctive program of support in data visualization that will enable innovations in teaching and research.  As part of this work, he will manage the new Visualization Laboratory located in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library, including its operations and technology.  More broadly, he will be a resource and consultant for faculty and scholars on visual thinking and data visualization techniques and software.

Welcome, Richard, to UC Libraries!

Libraries’ Proposal to Encourage Diversity in the Library Profession Awarded an Equity & Inclusion Incentive Grant

regina bourne

Regina Bourne (center), Library Human Resources and Organizational Development Director, is presented with the grant award. UC/ Joseph Fuqua II

The University of Cincinnati Libraries were awarded an Equity & Inclusion Incentive Grant for the proposal “Exploring the Diverse Career Paths within Libraries,” which aims to introduce and educate minority high school students to the academic library profession for the purpose of attracting them into the profession.

Submitted by UC Libraries, in collaboration with Cincinnati Public Schools, University of Cincinnati Admissions, and partners within the library, the grant will support the creation of two half-day programs for up to 60 college-bound high school minority students from local area schools. Throughout the course of the day, the students will: take a tour of the library; meet faculty and staff with a range of skills and educational backgrounds; engage in learning activities related to library professions; learn about the experiences of student workers currently employed by the library; and gain an understanding of the multitude of career options the library has to offer.

This outreach initiative will address the current trend of retiring librarians, introduce students to diverse disciplines and cultivate interest in the library profession among the visiting students. It will also show how IT skills can be used in the library profession and educate the student visitors about library student worker jobs. Student visitors will be given flash drives uploaded with additional information about libraries to continue to engage them after the day is over.

UC Libraries’ faculty, staff and student workers who help to facilitate the program will gain valuable experience and professional development in diversity and inclusion.

The university’s Equity & Inclusion Incentive Grant program seeks to support collaborative efforts between colleges and units to enhance diversity and inclusion through innovative practices that align with the goals and objectives in the Diversity Plan.

Preservation Week 2018 – Be Our Guest at the Annual Open House April 26th!

It’s spring in Cincinnati, which means two things – the epic weather battle between winter and summer (snow yesterday, 71 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow) and the annual Preservation Week Lab Open House!

preservation week

This year marks the lab’s 7th year of participation in this national event, an American Libraries Association initiative aimed at raising “awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in providing ongoing preservation education and information.”  Our event is open to the public – come one, come all!

The Open House will include a behind the scenes tour of the lab, a peek at amazing collection items being preserved for our parent institutions – the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and the University of Cincinnati Libraries, and of course a new bookmark.

This year our theme highlights the versatility and artistry of the book, from a complex composite object such as a scrapbook to a simple one-page zine.  We’ll also touch on the evolution of the book form, from cuneiform to artist’s book.  As is our tradition, we’ll set up “stations” were visitors can roam, explore, and learn at their own pace.

We are looking forward to see you all on, Thursday, April 26th, 1:30-3:00 pm, 300 Langsam Library.  And yes, there will be cookies!

Music in the Gorno Library Fri. April 20, 2018

Gorno programJoin us Fri. April 20 at 1:30 PM in the Gorno Library for a concert of songs by Henri Duparc performed by members of the Collaborative Piano Seminar in conjunction with the Special Topics Voice students.  View program (pdf). The event is free and open to all.

About the concert:

Henri Duparc  (1848 – 1933) is a unique composer in that his entire international reputation rests upon the sixteen songs for one voice and piano as well as the solitary duet for two voices and piano.  These songs were composed between 1868 and 1884. He chose to orchestrate some of them for symphonic concert performances in the following decade but failed to compose anything new for the remainder of his life.  This phenomenon was caused by a neurasthenic condition that struck in the mid 1880’s and consistently worsened as the decades went by.

He was very strongly influenced by  César Franck’s teaching in his productive decades and it was Franck who encouraged him to make  pilgrimages to Munich and Bayreuth in order to hear the Wagner operas not being presented in Paris.  The unstable  chromatic harmonies of Franck and Wagner are clearly audible in some of the more mature songs. From at least two of the songs, it would appear Duparc was also familiar with the darker influences of Edgar Allan Poe’s world of the macabre.

 When taken as a whole, this limited output contains a surprisingly broad variety of songs  and at least two of which (to poems of Baudelaire) count among the greatest merging of poet and composer in the history of French song.

May 3 Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture to Highlight Pediatrics in Cincinnati

cchmc

The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine will host the 9th Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture from 5-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 3, in the Kresge Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, 231 Albert Sabin Way.

michael farrell

Michael Farrell, MD

This year’s lecture, titled “Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Impacting the Health of Children in Our Community and the World: The Past, Present and Future,” will focus on the contributions and historical relevance of pediatrics in the Cincinnati region with a primary focus on Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center (Children’s Hospital).

Michael Farrell, MD, and Bea Katz, PhD, will serve as co-lecturers for the event. Dr. Farrell is currently professor of pediatrics in the College of Medicine. He served as director of the Pediatric Residency Program until 2001 and chief of staff at Children’s Hospital until 2015. His major interests are general pediatrics, the history of medicine and gastroenterology/nutrition. Bea Katz, editor of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (2008) by Arcadia Publishing, has chronicled the history of Children’s Hospital for 30 years, first as a writer in the hospital’s Marketing and Communications Department and later, post-retirement, as an independent author and researcher.

bea katz

Bea Katz, PhD

The evening will include the talk and audience Q&A from 5-6:30 p.m. Immediately following will be a reception from 6:30-7:30 p.m. outside the Winkler Center. In addition, an exhibit highlighting the pediatric history of Cincinnati will be on display in the Stanley J. Lucas, MD, Board Room.

The Cecil Striker Lecture is free and open to the public, but RSVP’s are requested by April 27 to (513) 558-5120 or chhp@uc.edu. Continue reading